IIRC, "Eighty shillings" was never the price of a bottle of the beer, it more reflected the value/duty payable, back in the day, on a full hogshead barrel of the product, the higher the quality and alcohol content, the higher value the "shilling" designation.
I believe the pre-1943 thruppenny bits had silver in them
If it was the (round) silver threepence, then yes, 50% silver, however the twelve sided version was just brass.
Yep, the wee silvery ones; I have a couple of both types. I believe the later ones were often called "wooden" thruppennies
Unless it's a specifically Scottish term? My grandparents both used the term referring to the post-1943 twelve-sided brass ones.
Not switchover as as you say the silver ones continued to be minted but 1943 is when the brass twelve-sided ones first appeared
More like 1937, I believe.
Silver 3d pieces were made until 1945, although 1944 is the last year when many were issued. According to Wikipedia, many of the 1945 issue were melted down for their silver content, and were not widely circulated.
A little-known railway fact is that the leaflets were printed somewhere in the Solent area and despatched across the whole of GB, by rail, from Eastleigh of all places. It required quite a bit of effort to assemble the necessary number of 'parcels' vans.
Fair enough, it's out of my era so to speak anyway so I was bound to get something wrong!
Though at the time of decimalisation and for years after, beer strength was normally quoted in OG, original gravity, relative to water at 1000. That's a measure of the fermentable sugars which can be converted into alcohol in the finished beer.
The manager at the cinema I worked at once upon a time insisted on staff having at least a basic grasp of mental arithmetic - we had to put everything through the till regardless, but he disabled the change calculation and had us work that mentally every time.
Silver 3d pieces were made until 1945, although 1944 is the last year when many were issued. According to Wikipedia, many of the 1945 issue were melted down for their silver content, and were not widely circulated.
Threepence (British coin) - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
"Brass" 12-sided 3d pieces were made from 1937 until 1967, plus some 1970 coins in "proof sets" (for coin / souvenir collectors).
Some trial coins were made dated 1937, with the head of King Edward VIII, but he abdicated before they were issued. A handful "escaped" and are worth a small fortune if you find one.
I agree there were some "hidden" prices rises. See my item in item no. 3
As mentioned upthread in post #67, silver threepences could still officially be spent (had to be in multiples of 6d) up to end August 1971, some six months or so after decimalisation "D Day".
Oh right, sorry I missed that. So they remained still valid alongside the 12 sided version, although I dont think I ever saw one in my loose change. I think I saw more in Christmas puddings than in real life...
Officially yes, but I never saw any either, other than in a Christmas pud or Christmas trifle.
Belhaven Brewery in Dunbar still produce a cask-conditioned 80/- ale. When the pubs are open it probably now does cost around £4 a pint in Edinburgh.
I can remember when tills didn't calculate change and the cashier had to hand it back coin by coin, counting upwards from the amount due to the amount tendered. They mostly stopped doing that in the 80s when the till started doing the calculation. Which made it much more difficult to check if you were getting the right change!
An elderly maiden aunt always used to get those every year, just before she walloped us at Pit if anyone can remember that, and never returned them. I think we found a small trove when clearing her flat after the funeral.
And you are a brave man to drink that. Awful stuff.
